Orange gets by Chapel Hill with late rally

Hillsborough Orange rallied from a 10-point deficit with five minutes left to defeat Chapel Hill 38-37 in another down-to-the-wire thriller.

The Panthers defeated the Tigers last season 6-0 on a last-second touchdown. This time, Orange took its first lead with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left and running back Tay Jones’ two-point conversion gave it the winning score. Jones also scored the touchdown on a dazzling 47-yard run to pull the Panthers to within one point.

“I’m a senior and I wanted to do it for my team,” said Jones who finished with 146 rushing yards and a 98-yard kickoff return for a score.

Trailing 34-14 at halftime, the Panthers scored on their first two possessions of second half: a 6-yard run by Jones and a 3-yarder by quarterback Garrett Cloer to close to 34-27 with 2:50 left in the third.

The Tigers compiled 281 first-half yards, mostly from quarterback Connor Stough’s 172 passing yards and McDowell’s 95-yard ground game on 19 carries – the most in a half this season so far.

Meanwhile, Chapel Hill’s defense held the high-flying Orange to a minus-6 rushing yards in the half.

McDowell gave Chapel Hill a 13-0 lead on the Tigers’ next possession, this one a 2-yard scamper with 2:21 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers got on the scoreboard just before the quarter ended with a quick six-play 80-yard drive that culminated in quarterback Cloer finding running back Eryk Brandon-Dean for a 41-yard strike.

But Chapel Hill came right back after Orange’s onside kick went backwards and ended at the Panthers 49. The Tigers needed less than 2 minutes to go up 20-7 after Stough found Albert Nyamayaro for 12 yards.

But before the Tigers could catch their breath, Orange running back Jones returned the kickoff 98 yards to pull the Panthers to 20-14 with 9:43 left in the half.